We have considered the connection between grace and justification. "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Romans 3:24 and Ephesians 1:7). Now, we have an opportunity to ponder once more the relationship between grace and sanctification. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." It is God's grace that brings salvation to mankind. For nearly 2,000 years, that saving grace of the Lord has been offered to humanity through the preaching of the gospel.
If today you stood before the "judgment seat of Christ", how would the trial go? Remember, it's not about what you did wrong, but what you did right. So often it's where Christians go off course. They only pursue personal purity and forget the stewardship of the Gospel. What personal goals should you add to reflect what is important to the Lord?
C.S. Lewis, in The Screwtape Letters, described how hard our enemy, Satan, works. Written from the point of view of demons who regard God as the Enemy, he writes: [Senior devil Screwtape to junior devil Wormwood]: “There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human’s mind against the Enemy. He [God] wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them worrying about what will happen to them.”
Anxiety and worry make us carry burdens our heavenly Father never intended us to bear and turn small matters into devastating circumstances. No wonder Jesus warned us about the “cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22)!
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.”
—Corrie ten Boom
We do not want to have unity with someone who doesn’t believe in the essentials of the Christian faith. That doesn’t mean we’re rude. We can disagree and still be pleasant.
unity between brothers and sisters in Christ is a different issue. We might have differing viewpoints on the order of prophetic events or some other thing. But we shouldn’t break fellowship over that. We build our unity on the truth of what we have learned in Scripture, on the fundamentals of the Christian faith.
Greg Laurie
Empathy is one of the most beautiful things we can extend to another person.
Empathy says I’m with you.
When someone is going through heartbreak or divorce — I’m with you.
When someone has lost a loved one — I’m with you.
When someone has lost a job — I’m with you.
When someone got the promotion of their dreams — I’m with you.
When someone reached a goal they never imagined — I’m with you.
Showing empathy meets someone right where they are, and that is what God calls us to do.
You can be the sun shining through on someone’s cloudy day.
Order them delivery from their favorite restaurant.
Invite them to go for a walk.
Write them a letter of encouragement.
Do their chores for them —
take out their garbage, walk their dogs, and collect their mail.
Go for a drive together and stop for a treat.
Watch a funny movie with them and serve their favorite snacks.
Put together a gift basket of their favorite things.
Why should someone believe what you preach from the pulpit when you don’t apply it in the counseling room?
What I live by, I impart.
~Augustine~
Vitamins for the Mind by Jim Rohn
Words/Vocabulary The two great words of antiquity are behold and beware. Behold the possibilities and beware of the temptations. Vocabulary enables us to interpret and express. If you have a limited vocabulary, you will also have a limited vision and a limited future. Well-chosen words mixed with measured emotions are the basis of affecting people. It’s okay to send flowers, but don’t let the flowers do all the talking. Flowers have a limited vocabulary. About the best flowers can say is that you remembered. But your words tell the rest. Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.
Wherever You Are, Be There by Jim Rohn
One of the major reasons why we fail to find happiness or create a unique lifestyle is that we have not yet mastered the art of being. While we are home our thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges we face at the office. And when we are at the office we find ourselves worrying about problems at home. We go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to us. We may be hearing the words, but we aren't absorbing the message.
As we go through the day we find ourselves focusing on past experiences or future possibilities. We are so involved in yesterday and tomorrow that we never even notice that today is slipping by. We go through the day rather than getting something from the day. We are everywhere at any given moment in time except living in that moment in time. Lifestyle is learning to be wherever you are. It is developing a unique focus on the current moment and drawing from it all of the substance and wealth of experience and emotions that it has to offer. Lifestyle is taking time to watch a sunset. Lifestyle is listening to silence. Lifestyle is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of what we are and of what we are in the process of becoming. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.
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